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  • From: Gary Gallon <cibe@web.net>
  • To: unlisted-recipients:; (no To-header on input)
  • Subject: Climate Change Gallon Letter
  • Date: Sun, 04 Jul 1999 10:36:40 -0300


THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER
Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment
Institut Canadien du Commerce et de l'environnement
506 Victoria Ave., Montreal, Quebec H3Y 2R5
Ph. (514) 369- 0230, Fax (514) 369- 3282
Email cibe@web.net
Vol. 3, No. 18, June 14, 1999

**************************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL
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GHG EMISSIONS TRADING GROUP LAUNCHED IN LONDON

The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), for greenhouse
gases was launched June 4, 1999, in London, U.K. It was launched at the
International Petroleum Exchange in London. Present at the launch were
private sector representatives from all continents from industry and
industry associations including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, who
was represented by Robert Redhead. The meeting was the product of 6
months of work by Frank Joshua, head of the UN's Emissions Trading Office
(UNCTAD - Geneva), Bjorn Stigson, President of the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Paulo Protasio, President,
Latin American Trading Association (Brazil) and senior executives from
BP/Amoco and Shell International. Much of the early work done for IETA
in developing its methodology and protocol was initiated by Canada's
Maurice Strong with contributions from David Runnalls, IISD and Janine
Ferretti, Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).

The main focus of the meeting was to review and approve a 12-page legal
document on the mission, objectives and structure of the IETA. Its mission
is to be an independent not-for-profit association dedicated to "the
development and establishment of effective market-based trading systems"
that are "fair, open, efficient, accountable and consistent across national
boundaries" for business. Among the objectives were a forum for learning
and sharing information of actual experiences; hold events for business and
decision makers to dialogue on trading rules, etc.; repository of
information on trading and other market based approaches; identify emission
trading opportunities; and be a forum for mediation of disputes between
members. The organization clearly sees its role to be a business voice
influencing national governments and the COP process.

Initially IETA will be housed in the WBCSD offices in Geneva and
incorporated under Swiss law. It will directly cooperate with trading
bodies such as Emissions Marketing Association (EMA) in the US and
similar organizations elsewhere. It will seek to promote the speedy
resolution of the international negotiations on Joint Initiatives (JI)
and Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) as well as international
trading. Membership fees will be $10,000 (US) for companies in OECD
countries and $5,000 (US) for those companies from countries outside
the OECD countries. The First Annual Meeting of IETA will take place
in October 1999 at Bonn as part of Kyoto greenhouse gas reduction fifth
Conference of the Parties (COP V). More information about emissions
trading see the Technology Systems Analysis Programme (ETSAP) Newsletters
on climate change at the website http://www.ecn.nl/unit_bs/etsap/newslet/

******************************************************************

TRANSALTA LTD., ALBERTA IS CANADA'S REPRESENTATIVE ON IETA

An eight person IETA Council of Management was elected at the meeting.
It included the following senior executives on an interim basis pending the
October 1999 meeting.

o Paulo Protasio (Brazil - L.A.T. Assoc.)
o Charles Nicholson (BP/Amoco)
o Aidan Murphy (Shell International)
o Dr. Robert Page (TransAlta - North America)
o Nick Aldridge (International Petroleum Exchange - London)
o Jed Jones (Lloyd's Register - London)
o John Buttle (KPMG - Australia)
o Simon Nyagba (Benue Cement - Nigeria)


For more information about TransAlta's work on climate change go to its
website at http://www.transalta.com/website/homepage.nsf?OpenDatabase

*********************************************************************

ASSISTANT U.S. EPA ADMINISTRATOR TO LEAVE AND
WORK ON CLIMATE CHANGE

David Gardiner, the EPA assistant administrator for policy, is leaving
the Environmental Protection Agency to become senior policy adviser
to the White House Task Force on Climate Change. He worked for U.S.
EPA Administrator, Carol Browner at the agency and will now help the
President work on measures to meet the Kyoto Protocol targets. Source,
Washington Times, 8 June 1999. For more information on the U.S.
Climate change program go to the website http://www.usgcrp.gov/

***********************************************************************

ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES RAISE PROPERTY VALUE

By improving energy efficiency, the real estate investment and management
firm Scribcor significantly increased the asset value of a bank office
building for sale in suburban Chicago last year. At about $3 per square foot
a year, energy bills for the 108,000-rentable-square-foot building had been
running at least $1 per square foot a year higher than normal considering the
area's high utility rates. An energy audit by Sieben Energy Associates of
Chicago included analyzing utility bills, interviewing building staff, and
surveying the building on-site. SEA first focused on operations and
maintenance measures like tweaking equipment based on existing problems or
potential new operating strategies. Next, the auditor identified load
reduction opportunities and finally looked at more significant and generally
more costly retrofit measures. SEA identified ten no- and low-cost measures
projected to save between $10,000 and $20,000 annually and seven more
expensive retrofit measures costing $300,000 to install but saving over
$100,000 a year. Of these, the largest and most cost-effective opportunities
were a lighting retrofit and air handling system measures. SEA used an hourly
energy-simulation model for what-if analysis and accurate sizing of capital
equipment. In all, the energy efficiency measures Scribcor put in place
reduced the building's energy costs to $1.90 per square foot a year, a
reduction of about 40 percent or $130,000 a year. Assuming a cap rate of 10
percent, such an increase in net operating income may have increased the
building's value by as much as $1.3 million. Source, Environmental Design &
Construction, May-Jun 99, p 44, by Roger Hill and Helen J. Kessler.
Visit the SEA website at http://www.siebenergy.com
For the full text of hte report go to http://www.edcmag.com/mayjune99_toc.html

************************************************************

THE U.S. MAY YET AGREE TO MEET KYOTO REDUCTION TARGETS

Chief United Nations climate official Michael Zammit Cutajar
said that despite disagreement between Europe and the United
States on how to achieve the reductions of greenhouse gas emissions
outlined in the Kyoto treaty, he expects a broad deal to emerge by the
time the U.N. hosts the COP-6 meeting in The Hague at the end of
next year. The United States favors making allowances for countries
that help poorer countries reduce their emissions, while Europe wants
limits to be placed on "`emissions trading'" to force countries to reduce
pollution at home. Source, the article, "U.N. Official Expects Global-
Warming Accord, Cites Need of U.S. Cuts for Success." Washington
Times, June 11, 1999. For more information about the U.S. energy
efforts go to the U.S. Dept of Energy's Office of Energy Outreach's
website at http://www.doe-oeo.org/

***************************************************

GLOBAL WARMING TALKS TO BE HELD BY NATIONS'
MINISTERS, NOVEMBER 2 TO 4, 1999, IN BONN

Ministerial talks on climate change are set for 2-4 November 1999
in Bonn, Germany at COP 5 (fifth meeting of the Convention of the
Parties). The ministers of environment and the ministers of energy

will attempt to come to some agreements that are currently being
hammered out by senior ministry officials from both the developed
and developing countries. They just finished meeting for two weeks
ending June 11 and will go back to work in Bonn from October 25
to November 2, when at that time, the ministers will arrive and
finalize the deals to meet the greenhouse gas reduction commitments
made at Kyoto. The last meeting was attended by some 1,500 participants
from 147 governments and 152 intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations.

The main outstanding issues must be finalized at the COP's Sixth
Session, which will take place in late 2000 or early 2001. An offer
by the Government of the Netherlands to host COP-6 in The Hague
was welcomed by the participants. Many governments are awaiting
the outcome of this vital conference before ratifying the Protocol and
thus finalizing their acceptance of it.

Over the past two weeks, government officials have paid a great deal
of attention to the challenge of how the Protocol's three "mechanisms"
for emissions trading, clean development, and joint implementation
should function. A closely linked issue is the development of credible
compliance procedures. Delegates have agreed on some of the guiding
principles for a compliance system and have produced a questionnaire
for obtaining the written views of governments in time for COP-5.
For more information contact Michael Williams at ph. +41-22. 917 8242/44,
fax (+41-22. 797 3464, e-mail mwilliams@unep.ch. Official documents are
available on the Internet at the website http://www.unfccc.de

********************************************************************

PROPOSED PRINCIPLES FOR AIR EMISSIONS REDUCTION

The Leonardo Academy has sent letters to the environmental agencies
and energy offices in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, asking
them to incorporate the Cleaner and Greener Principles into all future
pollution reduction programs, including U.S. EPA-required plans to
reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx, a pollutant that causes ground level ozone),
fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and haze. The objective is to achieve
full recognition of the environmental benefits of increased energy
efficiency, renewable energy, combined heat and power, and sequestration
in all air pollution reduction programs–including currently committed
emission reduction requirements, and all other future reduction programs.
It recommends that all emission reduction plans, programs, and regulations
should,

o use a cap-and-trade approach to reduce emissions so that
emission reductions receive their true market value.

o reward all building owners and others for emission reductions
delivered by their energy efficiency, renewable energy, combined
heat and power, and sequestration (for pollutants where
sequestration
is possible) projects. Reward these actions with emission
allowances
from under the emissions cap.

o allocate enough emission allowances to reward all emission
reductions from these actions. 4. Use a multiple pollutant
emission reduction reporting system to provide "one-stop"
reporting of reductions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides,
particulate matter, mercury, greenhouse gases, and other
pollutants. This makes it easy for owners and implementers
of energy efficiency, renewable energy, combined heat and
power, and sequestration projects to get credit for all emission
reduction benefits they deliver.

o give credit for early emission reduction actions from projects
implemented 1990 or later.

For more information on the Cleaner and Greener Principles for
Pollution Reduction Programs, contact, Leonardo Academy Inc.,
1526 Chandler Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53711, Ph. 608.280.

0256, Fax: 608.255.7202, email info@cleanerandgreener.org,
visit website http//www.cleanerandgreener.org/CGPrinciples/

*******************************************************************

CANADA'S $150 MILLION CLIMATE CHANGE FUND

The Climate Change Action Fund (CCAF) was established by the
Canadian government to help Canada meet the commitments it made
in December 1997 at the Third Conference of the Parties (COP3), an
international climate change meeting, in Kyoto, Japan. The CCAF
was announced in the 1998 federal budget, where $150 million was
allocated over three years to support the development of an implementation
strategy to meet these commitments and to facilitate early action to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Activities under the CCAF have
been divided into four components. Click on each of the following for
a description of each component and its business plan. The first one is
"Foundation Analysis", which includes the development of Issue Tables.
It involves the development of a national implementation strategy via a
multi-stakeholder consultation process. The second is "Science, Impacts
and Adaptation". It targets research to better understand climate processes
and to assess the impact of climate change on the regions of Canada
and the options for adaptation. The third is "Technology Early Action
Measures." It involves cost-shared support for the development and
deployment of emission-reducing technologies. The fourth is "Public
Outreach", which involves using public education and outreach activities
directed at informing Canadians about climate change and encouraging
them to take action.

The operation of the CCAF is based on a number of principles, including
building where possible on existing initiatives and mechanisms; early
spending on immediate priorities while not prejudging the outcome of the
national implementation process; leveraging and cost-sharing with the
provinces and the private sector; concrete milestones and demonstrable
results; and the development of a transparent process that engages all
relevant federal departments and agencies and external stakeholders.
Contact, David Oulton, Head, Climate Change Secretariat 55 Murray
Street, Suite 600, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 5M3, ph. 613-943-2671,
fax 613-943-2694 e-mail ccaf@climatechange.gc.ca Visit their
website at http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/

********************************************************************

CANADA'S BCNI WARNS ABOUT ATTEMPTS TO MEET
KYOTO REDUCTION TARGETS

As Canada's own voluntary measures flounder and its efforts to
undertake serious greenhouse gas reductions lag, the Business Council
on National Issues (BCNI) questions, "whether or not the arbitrary
target of Kyoto makes sense...". BCNI states, "...that it does not believe
such a commitment is realistic for Canada". And questions, "whether
Kyoto can be reconciled with the other goals we have as a country".
What is interesting is that the economic impact analysis by BCNI takes
the traditional position of measure impacts on the energy and resource
industries, those industries which are major energy consumers. BNCI's
economic analysis did not take fully into account the economic benefits
of energy efficiency and technology innovation leading to competitive
advantage. BCNI's position and the full opinion can be found in the
Business Council on National Issues, newsletter called, "Opinions", 1999,
Number One, entitled, "Meeting the Climate Change Challenge", 90 Sparks
Street Suite 806, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5B4, Ph. (613) 238-3727, fax (613)
236-8679. Contact John Dillon at email jdillon@bcni.com,

*********************************************************************

STUDY ON GLOBAL AVAILABILITY OF GHG TECHNOLOGIES

Canada's Climate Change Secretariat, under the direction of David Oulton,
is conducting a study entitled, "An Assessment of the Global Availability
of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Technology", for its Issues Table #1 on
Technology. The study will help the issue table develop a workplan for

Canada which is assessing the global availability of such technologies and
assessing the need for these technologies in Canada for companies working
in both the domestic and international markets, and assessing measures
that have already been used either in Canada or aborad to advance technology
innovation. Based on the Climate Change Secretariats findings from the
Technology Table, an options paper will be prepared for the federal
government to consider in meeting its Kyoto Protocol commitment.
For more information visit the Climate Change Secretariat's website at
http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/

*********************************************************************

INSURANCE AND FINANCE COMPANIES TAKE NEXT STEP
ON ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Over 120 financial services executives (insurers, investment companies,
banks, brokers and pension funds) from Africa, Asia, North America and
Europe are met in Oslo, Norway, with the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), June 10 and 11, 1999, to discuss the insurance and
investments industries and the global environment. Entitled "Natural
Capital at Risk", this year's annual meeting of the United Nations
Environment Programme's Insurance Industry Initiative will explore
the linkages between critical environmental issues and global economies
affected by environmental issues like global warming. Klaus Toepfer,
UNEP's Executive Director said that, "it is time for aware and active
insurers and banks, acting as responsible global citizens, to move
from assessing the environmental challenge to implementing solutions."

The UNEP Insurance Industry Initiative has launched a study on the
possible implications for insurers of the Kyoto Protocol to the UN
Climate Change Convention in the second half of 1998 and the
findings will be officially presented today. It suggests that the
implementation of the Kyoto Protocol offers business opportunities
for the insurance sector once the modalities have been adopted. "The
climate debate remains one of the most important issues for the
insurance sector", says Age Korsvold, President and CEO of Storebrand
Insurance, host of the meeting. The insurance industry reports that
environmental disasters around the world annually caused the death
of 50,000 people and cost an estimated US $90 billion to the nations'
economies." Dr. Juergen Zech, Chairman of the Gerling Group, stated
that, "insurance managers should feel encouraged to take a leading role
in the post-Kyoto dialogue. Economic and financial expertise is required
in the political discussion and insurers and banks would contribute
from an almost neutral position as their business is fairly clean."

*************************************************************

US $100 MILLION ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENT
BY FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Dr. Juergen Zech, Chairman of the Gerling Group announced that
eight major financial institutions had agreed to launch a joint US $100
million investment initiative called, "Sustainability Investment Partners"
(SIP). "Gerling believes that there are important opportunities in the
sector, especially when we can combine the expertises of such a broad
group of leading companies. We have decided to invest in the new
Sustainability Fund because we believe that sustainable companies are
generally better managed", he said. The Oslo conference is expected to
mark a watershed in the evolution of the insurance industry's stance on
the environment. Insurance executives who have worked in cooperation
with UNEP since 1995 are now advancing to a higher level of partnership.
For more information contact, Aiko Bode, Co-ordinator UNEP Insurance
Industry Initiative, Tel.+41.22.917-8197; email aiko.bode@unep.ch or
Robert Bisset, UNEP Information Officer, Nairobi, email
robert.bisset@unep.org

*******************************************************************

NEW YORK REQUESTS GREEN TECHNOLOGY PROPOSALS

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority

(NYSERDA) is now accepting proposals for residential, commercial,
and institutional building projects that develop, evaluate, demonstrate,
or introduce green technologies in New York State. NYSERDA has
US $500,000 available to support three types of projects; first, projects
that develop and demonstrate innovative tools, protocols, and practices
for designing or evaluating green buildings; second, projects that develop
or demonstrate innovative green building products; or third, projects
involving detailed engineering feasibility studies of commercially available
energy efficient technologies to make new or existing buildings greener.
NYSERDA will fund up to 50 percent of a project's total cost, but all
proposed projects must yield energy, environmental, and economic benefits
in New York State. NYSERDA is accepting short proposals through July 12 and,
after review, will request full proposals due in September. For specifics,
email Bob Carver rmc@nyserda.org Other NYSERDA opportunities can be found at
the website http://www.nyserda.org/rddopps.html Source, GreenClips,

*************************************************************

NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE ACCUSED OF "GREENWASH"

WASHINGTON, D.C. December 10 -/E-Wire/-- The Better Business
Bureau of America ruled that a Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) advertising
campaign, which touted nuclear energy as "environmentally clean," was
inaccurate. The BBB recommended that the nuclear industry trade group
refrain from making such claims. The NEI's advertisements, which have
been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post and other
major newspapers and magazines, make the claim that "Nuclear energy
generates electricity without polluting the air and water" and that it is
"environmentally clean." The BBB, however, concluded that nuclear
plants do cause thermal water pollution and that the processes needed to
produce the uranium-enriched fuel for nuclear plants cause air pollution.
The Better Business Bureau recommended that water and air pollution
claims be carefully qualified to avoid any potential for consumer
confusion and that broad, unqualified claims that nuclear energy is
`Environmentally Clean' or produces electricity `without polluting
the environment' be discontinued."

Moreover, the BBB said that the "environmentally clean" claim is
"premature at best," because as yet there is no permanent disposal
system for highly radioactive waste created by nuclear plants.
"Given the potential health and safety problems associated with
exposure to radioactive materials, until the questions regarding
a permanent repository for radioactive waste are resolved, NAD
recommends that the advertiser refrain from using overly broad
claims that nuclear energy is `Environmentally Clean' or produces
electricity `without polluting the environment.' " For more
information contact Auke Piersma, ph. 202-546-4996, Ext. 318 or
Booth Gunter, ph. 202-588-7741 Go to the website for the full
story at http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/December/dec109803.html

**************************************************************

GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

It is clear that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and
the Kyoto Protocol affirm that "differentiated" responsibilities should
be borne by industrialized and developing countries. Yet it is equally
clear that fulfilling the objective of these agreements -- preventing
dangerous climate change will necessarily require developing countries
and those from the Eastern block to participate in the solution. The
resulting stalemate between nations over the timing and nature of
developing country and Eastern country participation has led to an
increasingly acrimonious negotiating atmosphere. The stalemate
stems, at least in part, from a default assumption evident in the current
political debate that a developing country commitment would take the
same basic form as an industrialized country commitment -- a limitation

on the absolute level of GHG emissions. Of course, one key difference
is assumed -- a developing country commitment would likely be expressed
as a "growth cap" set at some level above the country*s current emissions
level to allow for economic development. In this workshop, The World
Resources Institute (WRI) has presented an alternative to "growth caps" in
the form of a greenhouse gas intensity indicator, which expresses a country's
emissions per unit of economic output. For more information about WRI's
ongoing climate change activities, visit http//www.wri.org/wri/. The
full article, "What Might a Developing Country Climate Commitment Look Like?"
at http//www.wri.org/wri/climate/commit.html

************************************************************

EUROPEAN AUTO INDUSTRY VOLUNTEERS 25% CUT IN GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

The European Commission endorsed an offer by the European
auto industry to voluntarily cut carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution
from its cars by about 25% by improving fuel consumption.
The voluntary deal was reached after European Union governments
threatened to impose legally-binding pollution limits on vehicle
manufacturers. The members of the European Automobile Manufacturers'
Association (ACEA) voluntarily agreed to cutting the amount of CO2
in exhaust fumes to an average 140 grams per km by 2008.
The Commission said the current average in the 15-nation EU was
186g CO2/km in 1995. The voluntary agreement will oblige car makers
to reduce the average fuel consumption of their fleet to six litres per
100 kilometres for petrol engines and 5.3 litres per 100 km for diesel
vehicles. ACEA said it believed it could bring CO2 emissions down to
165- 170g/km by 2003, when it would see if it could meet the tougher
target sought by the EU of 120g CO2/km by 2012.

******************************************************************

EU CONFERENCE ON PROMOTING RENEWABLE ENERGY,TO REDUCE GHG

A Kick-off Conference for the European Union Renewable Energy
Strategy, entitled, "Implementing Renewable Energy in the 21st
Century", was held May 1999. The objective is to double the use of
renewable energy in the European Union from the current 6% of
energy use to 12% by the year 2010. This objective was set out in
in the European Commission White Paper for a Community Strategy
and Action Plan. The European Commission will establish the
framework, provide some financial and technical assistance, and co-
ordinate actions. Both public and private sector contributions will
be enlisted to meet the objectives which tie in with the efforts to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions per the Kyoto reduction targets.
Included in the GHG reduction goals are to provide,

o One million Photovoltaic systems
o 15 million metres squared of solar collectors
o 10,000 MW of wind turbine generators
o 10,000 MW of CHP biomass installations
o One million dwellings heated by biomass
o 1,000 MW of biogas installations
o 5 million tonnes of liquid biofuels

For more information you can contact Mariàngels Pérez-Latorre
Head of section, New and Renewable Energy Sources, European
Commission DGXVII email sustain@emml.co.uk
Go to website http://www.emml.com

********************************************
***************************************************************

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Copyright (c) 1999 Canadian Institute for
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  • Climate Change Gallon Letter, Gary Gallon, 07/04/1999

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